What Could've Happened
by gonnahaveagreatday
Summary: Imagine if Elena hadn't erased her memories of Damon. What would that look like? - complete
1. Chapter 1

Elena sat on her bed, bent over one of the many pictures of her and Damon, and missed him even more. She looked up and saw Caroline enter the room.

"You know Caroline," She began "It feels like there's a hole in my heart, where Damon used to be. And that hole feels too big to just be filled up again in the next year, or century." She watched concern etch itself across Caroline's face and Elena sighed, looking back down at Damon smiling at her.

"What should I do?" She asked. Caroline looked at her and shrugged.

"I don't know, Elena." She replied honestly. She sat on the bed next to Elena. "But I do have a suggestion." She began. Elena looked at her and Caroline back. "I'm surprised I'm even saying this, but since you're mourning him, and I'm trying to see him as anything but a monster…" Elena looked away and Caroline took her hand.

"What do you think Damon would do, if you were gone and he was left to grieve you?" Caroline asked. Elena looked at her.

"I think, before, Damon would've turned his humanity off. But now since we got together again, maybe he'd just drink himself happy." Elena replied. Caroline looked away and at the floor.

"Okay, maybe not the best idea I've ever offered." She replied. Elena looked away with a brief smile.

"I don't know, Caroline. We never talked about it because we never thought it would happen. But, Damon would want me to be happy." Elena confessed. She looked at the floor and realized what she had to do.

"I'm gonna go to Alaric tomorrow." Elena told Caroline.

"What for?" She asked. Elena looked at her.

"I think he can help me." She replied. Caroline looked at her in concern but ignored it.

"Okay. Well, there's a party tomorrow and if you're coming, ther'll be no protest from me." Caroline said. Elena shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe." She said. Caroline nodded and got up.

"I'll let you get some sleep, kay?" She asked. Elena nodded and in a second Caroline was gone. She bent over her bed, and could not stop the tears from falling again.


	2. Can't Hold On I

Stefan stood in the temple, holding a bottle of bourbeon. He gazed at it, and then at the people around him, the dead family. Now that included Damon, the only person he thought would never leave him. Now he wished he was here right now. Stefan threw the bottle, almost resisting the urge to scream after it in his despair. A hand caught it that hadn't been there in the past five seconds. Stefan stare in disbelief, as Damon looked at him as if he were insane, and looked at the bottle.  
"Just because I was dead, that makes it okay to waste a perfectly good bottle of bourbeon?" Damon asked. Stefan fought the urge to smile. This couldn't be real, it can't be. It was a trick, Damon was dead. But he couldn't resist.  
"Damon?" He asked shakily.  
"It's me, brother." Damon replied. then he went forward to Stefan. Stefan stopped him with a hand and grasped his shoulder, feeling it wasn't just air. "It's me." Damon promised. Stefan pulled Damon in and they embraced. "It's me." Damon now stated. By his tone Stefan knew what was now going through Damon's mind. Elena, he had to see Elena. Damon pulled away, and Stefan let him go.  
"There's someone I've gotta see." Damon breathed, looking him in the eye, and patted his shoulder a couple more times before Stefan let him leave in a sound of speeding air. Introductions, and how Damon had even come back, were for later. Right now Elena needed him.


	3. Can't Hold On II

Elena woke up on top of her bed covers, exhausted. As she sat up, she had a flashback of the last night she told Damon she loved him.  
Their car went racing through town, she'd caught his attention by saying his name, and set her panicked eyes on his. She didn't even have to say it.  
"I know." He breathed, as they crashed into the bomb. She practically felt its explosion all over again.  
Elena shook, as if it'd happened all over again, and there was a knock at the door. She looked towards it, and began to get up when she heard the voice.  
"Hey, Elena." Damon breathed. She stopped and went to her phone instead. The ringing went straight to voice mail as it'd done three times already.  
"Luke, call me back, please. If you take the herb for a longer time, does it last longer?" She asked it.  
"What herb?" Damon asked through the door. Elena dropped the phone, and it went to the floor, clattering. She turned to the door, and looked through her tears to the place where she thought she heard him again. Damon always knew about the herb when she, saw, him again. Was this actually different?  
"Damon?" She breathed in hope, walking to the door and putting her hand on the doorknob. She flung open the door, hoping against hope that he was truly on the other side of that door, and expecting that he wasn't. But when that door crashed into the wall, Damon's eyes stared back into hers, wildly happy. Partly because of the fact she threw the door into the wall.  
Elena breathed, a tear running down her face, and she smiled. "Damon." She stated. She closed her eyes, not caring if it was the drug, and a tear ran down her face.  
"Hey." Damon said, reaching out this thumb and brushing a tear away. Elena opened her eyes into his, and his thumb against her face beamed his hand, and he was holding her. Damon kissed her cheek, and Elena let him kiss her mouth, again and again, but pulled away after a minute. Damon looked at her, wondering what was wrong.  
"Don't tell me you've got a boyfriend." Damon asked, slightly serious, his heart already empty from the thought of it.  
"You're not real." Elena sobbed. Damon searched her eyes and held her still. "I let you kiss me, now I can't tell what i ant from what I don't have." She cried. Damon shushed her and led her to the bed, calming her down. IT took a long while; everytime she'd calmed down, she looked back into his eyes and lost it again.  
"What happened, Elena?" Damon asked.  
"I've been taking an herb that lets me see you, Damon. I've been off it for a day or two but its gotten stronger." Elena replied.  
"You said Luke gave you the herb?" He asked. Elena stared at him and nodded.  
"Well then, I'll just have to do and have a little talk with him." Damon replied, standing up and looking at the door. Elena grabbed his shirt and he looked back at her.  
"Don't say that Damon, you know you can't." She sobbed.  
"What, does he have a protective spell on him or something?" He asked. Elena smiled and shook her head. Damon looked at her mouth as she smiled but didn't say how much he'd missed it; that would just bring more pain to both of them. He looked back to the door and then to Elena.  
"I'll be back, baby." He breathed, and kissed her forehead, making her catch her breath, and close her eyes. As her eyes opened he was gone, and she shut her eyes tight, losing it again. She was right, Damon hadn't been real. And Alaric wouldn't be free until tomorrow. Dammit.  
"Elena had been using an herb, to see me again?" He asked Luke, who eyed him suspiciously.  
"What, did she figure out how to control you and sent you after me to get the herb again?" Luke asked, ignoring what he'd said.  
"Hey blondie, I know it's hard to concentrate, thinking about what I'd look like naked and all, but I need you to focus." Damon said. Luke stared at him.  
"You're seriously real, aren't you?" Luke asked, looking him square in the eye.  
"Yeah, he is." A voice called, and both of them turned to see Stefan in the doorway.  
"Stefan, thanks for the head's up." Damon said. Stefan stared at him.  
"Sorry I didn't tell you before, brother. Caroline told me what happened to her just after you left." Stefan replied.  
"What did happen?" Damon asked.  
"When you died, Elena couldn't accept it." Stefan said sadly. "She asked Luke three months ago if he had something that would let her see you again, and it just so happens he did." Damon turned to Luke.  
"It there a way fro her to see that I'm real." He breathed. Stefan looked at Luke and in turn so did Damon.  
Luke looked at him and nodded.  
"What?" Damon asked.  
"I won't give Elena the herb, and as she starts to withdraw, she'll start to get her senses back; stated to be able to tell fantasy from reality again."  
"Couldn't you just tell her I'm back?" Damon asked.  
"She's already going through enough, Damon. If she thinks Luke is trying to hurt her she'll snap." Stefan persuaded. Damon felt like bricks were just dumped on his shoulders and he looked at Luke.  
"How long is it gonna take for her to withdraw from it?" Damon asked in a growl. Luke stared at him.  
"Two weeks." He replied. Damon pushed him against the wall without a thought and smiled evilly.  
"It could take less time than that if she can't rip your arms off to get that damn herb, I could just kill you and she wouldn't have to wait at all." Damon replied.  
"Didn't she break up with you before because you spin out of control when you get pissed?" Luke asked calmly. Damon let him go. This was the wrong time to be pushing his buttons. But then, if Elena heard, who know what she'd think.  
"What was I thinking; pushing you against the wall would only turn you on." Damon growled.  
"Hey, I do like guys, yeah, but not the ones threatening me." Luke snapped, straightening his jacket again as he got off the wall.  
"Well you're not much of a potential boyfriend, are you?" Damon asked. Luke turned away and Stefan pulled Damon away.  
"Come on, let Elena have some time alone, and then she'll know you're really back." Stefan said. Damon glared at him.  
"I fail to see how that plan is fail-safe." He replied. Stefan stared at him.  
"Caroline, and Alaric and I will keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't do something stupid." Stefan persuaded. With Luke's back turned Damon felt no shame in throwing something at the ground, glass spraying all over. Luke merely looked at them with an annoyed expression on his face.  
"I've been waiting four months to see her." Damon replied.  
"What's two more weeks?" Stefan asked. Damon didn't reply, but he left with Stefan. They went back home, and Damon found trivial things to occupy himself with. During that time, Caroline, Stefan and the others went to Elena's dorm and told her Damon really was alive. It was more for Elena's sake than for Damon's; as he couldn't see how damaged she was right then although he insisted he wasn't feeling so hot either. She'd kept going to classes but her demeanor in every room was worse than it's been when Damon had come back. And none of her friends could bare that.  
It didn't take two weeks to convince her. Three days later, Damon had run out of things to do and was about ready to just go over to Elena's and see if the same thing happened as before. But the doorbell rang.  
'We have a doorbell now?' Damon thought to himself; Stefan must've gotten bored. He opened the door and saw the same tear-streaking Elena standing before him.  
"Elena" He breathed, smiling. She rushed in and threw her arms around him, too happy for words. She buried her head in his shoulder, and smelled his smell.  
"I missed you so much." Damon whispered, rocking her back and forth.  
"I might not need to tell, but so did I." Elena replied. Damon pulled away.  
"How much?" He asked rhetorically with a smile, and Elena kissed him. He kissed her back so passionately that she let him take her to the couch.  
Three hours later, Elena was lying on top of Damon like they'd done the day Silas came to take Damon and resurrect Bonnie. They were under blankets, and blissfully happy.  
"I cannot tell you, how much I missed this." Damon said. Elena smiled and met his eyes.  
"What?" She asked, and he pulled her hair back from her should, his hand running from her neck to her shoulder and down her arm.  
"This." He replied. She didn't think it was possible to smile more than she was right then but she found herself grinning even harder, and then he kissed her again. Stefan knocked on the door, and made sure he waited a bit before he opened it, finding Elena and Damon now disshelved and trying to cover the act he already knew had taken place. Damon kept looking at Elena, Elena kept looking at Damon.  
"So you believe now." Stefan decided and Elena smiled. "Just wanted to check on you guys, make sure everything was alright." Stefan said. Caroline popped her head in and took one look at Elena and grinned.  
"You okay now?" She asked. Elena just looked at Damon and he at her again, smiling mischievously. Maybe she still didn't approve of Damon, but Elena was the happiest she'd looked for months. That alone made bringing her back to that guy better.  
"We'll, go now." Stefan stuttered, and he and Caroline left. the door wasn't all the way closed before Elena and Damon were in each other's arms again.


End file.
